Nostalgia: Getting Old?

My most predominant gripe lately has been about the belabored march of the nostalgia trend; I love retro and I’m super annoyed it’s not special anymore. A dozen years ago, you’d spot a true traditional car in a sea of billet rods and it gave you a shot of adrenaline. Today, nostalgia cars are as predictable as the billet rods and red ’69 Camaros they fought to upstage. I want to be thrilled by them again.

Absent of the ability to make retro new again, I’m craving stimulation from fresh concepts. People often ask me what’s the next trend HOT ROD sees coming. I had answers when the nostalgia cars first became popular, when rat rods got big, and when Pro Touring went mainstream. But all of that’s been going on for a decade plus. What’s next? Whenever I answer the question, some readers claim HOT ROD is trying to cram trends down their throats, but we don’t make trends, we just share them. The readership makes them popular by building fresh cars in the styles that turn them on. Perhaps due to a stagnant economy, there hasn’t been a lot of groundbreaking lately. But manufacturers tell us the speed-parts business is picking up, and so is car building. Which brings me circuitously to the answer about new trends: I’m seeing more street rods built in Pro Touring styles with real performance; I know of half a dozen old cars being retrofitted with all-wheel drive; the aesthetic of gutted race-car interiors is catching on; and more people are interested in Ford Coyote 5.0L engine swaps. As for retro, it’s micro-niche stuff: vans keep gaining momentum, and there’s more love for ’70s street-freak styles.

Here’s where I’m conflicted on the retro-versus-new thing. I wish new-car manufacturers would stop retreading option-package names from the ’60s and come up with exciting new concepts to glorify the killer performance they’ve got going. At the same time, I’ve seen the guesstimations of what the next-gen Mustang might look like, and I don’t like it—because it’s not retro enough. I want it to look like a natural progression of what a Mustang should be, sort of like what Ford has been doing with tweaks to the current platform. Instead, if pundits are correct, it could be a wild departure into import styling. I recall being ushered out of Ford in ’93 after a sneak peak at the SN95 for ’94, when I blurted that it looked like a Celica. I hope history doesn’t repeat itself.

4/7

I want old to be new again, and I want new to be new again. I’m ready for what’s next in hot rodding as long as it’s not off the plot. The staff says I’m just jaded. How about you?

In My Opinion

Best Quote from an Online Reader This Month
“I broke up with my girlfriend because she was annoying me while watching this episode.”—YouTube user othman992, commenting on our Roadkill show about the ’Cuda trip in this issue.

This Month’s Best News
Preregistration for HOT ROD Power Tour® is setting records.

This Month’s Worst News
In late January, Ken Montgomery passed away. He was the Super Stock racer who bought a brand-new ’65 Plymouth lightweight, named it the Triple Nickle, and raced it until recently.

Car I Most Wanted to Build on the Day I Wrote This
Unusual for me, I’ve been craving a late-model, a new Mustang GT. Not brand new, but a ’12 GT—one model year before they introduced the catfish-lips grille.

HOTROD.COM/Jesse-Kiser
I just purchased David’s ’67 Impala we used for last month’s Paint Party cover. It’s interesting to buy a car from a co-worker, especially your boss. I’ve refrained from calling him to ask stupid questions. Although I often find myself alone in the garage yelling, “Damn it, David!”

HOTROD.COM/Elana-Scherr
Right now, there’s a front sway bar for an Opel GT under my coffee table, cab lights for a ’68 Dodge D700 on the kitchen counter, and the chrome trim piece for a Challenger T/A hood against the wall in the hallway. That’s after we cleaned up.

HOTROD.COM/Brandan-Gillogly
A few things we all learned from our time at Bondurant: 1) Thom Taylor will put you into a wall if he gets the chance; 2) Every time we put Executive Editor Julia Cyr behind the wheel, cars get sideways; 3) Travis Labella archives all the video he shoots. He’s probably got blackmail material on everyone.